Waitaminute, I think in Our Friends in the North which I watched last year they used these enquiries, too, though with an emphasis on the corruption rather than the racism. Anyway, yes, if Scarman stands for this watershed, then that scene looks worse and worse.

Also, it reminds me of what you said re: Between the Lines, i.e. that cop shows usually present Interior Investigations as either corrupt or powermad bureaucrats who don't really understand people in the field, etc., and that therefore Between the Lines was unusual in its very premise.

Did Matthew Graham et al. say anything about their use of Lord Scarman?